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Typically, workers are paid a flat rate, businesses buffer the worker's income generating activities, such that the business owners pocket high income activitie
by itake 2y ago
Typically, workers are paid a flat rate, businesses buffer the worker's income generating activities, such that the business owners pocket high income activities (like serving drinks and being tipped) with low income activities (like washing the dishes at the end of the night). Any money left over after wages, is pocketed by the business owner, to be used on a day with low income day (think Friday night vs Sunday night at a restaurant).
Dynamic pricing allows workers more exposure to the value they generate, thus enabling them to capture higher pay.
- vundercind 2y agoThat might be what dynamic labor pricing implemented by a disinterested third party would do. An interested party can use it to do other things.
- itake 2y agoWhat other things? For decades, restaurants have paid their labor with dynamic “algorithmic” wages: work during peak shifts, get more tips. Why haven’t people been up in arms about how bar tenders working a Friday night near more than bartenders working a Monday afternoon?
- vundercind 2y agoThe article is about subjecting workers to discriminated pay rates for reasons: that are not clear to the workers; that may not be within the power of the workers to control; that cannot be predicted in advance; and that may vary per worker rather than being offered the same to all workers at once; with that last also based on factors unknown to the workers—including, potentially, personal information about the worker or about their compensation history. The paper is explicitly not (as in: the intro outright states this is not what it’s about) traditional forms of variable pay.
- itake 2y ago> that are not clear to the workers; that may not be within the power of the workers to control; that cannot be predicted in advance; and that may vary per worker rather than being offered the same to all workers at once; You’re literally describing tipping. When a worker starts their shift, they do not know how much they will earn. Tips vary per worker for sexism, racism, ageism reasons, or just plain luck.
- vundercind 2y agoThat is similar! But this is the employer doing it, not a bunch of uncoordinated people.
- itake 2y agoIf 5 “employers” per day opaquely compensate an employee, then that’s ok. But if 1 employer, chooses their wage opaquely, then that’s bad. I don’t get it.
- vundercind 2y agoThe paper explains this (and isn’t about quite what you’re suggesting). Tens of pages of explanation, it covers it better than I will.
- yulker 2y agoMost restaurants in the world operate without tips.
- mewpmewp2 2y agoBut usually these things come down to patterns that people will learn. E.g. they will learn certain location at certain hours will pay more, because there's more demand vs supply, so they will adapt. It allows them the power to decide when and for what money it is worth it for them to work those hours or this location.
- 2y ago
- DylanDmitri 2y agoWait staff paid directly by customers is different from payments processed opaquely by the employer. Consider if a server got paid tips based only on the number of customer smiles detected by the restaurant security cameras.
- itake 2y agoTip amounts have always been about how much the customer enjoyed the service, hence the 10-25% tip ranges. Customers have opaque expectations for service and pay their server based on the server’s gender, race, and age as well as quality of service that the server doesn’t even have control over (like if the kitchen was backed up). A system counting smiles is basically what we currently have: instead of signaling with a smile, they signal with a tip amount.
- freejazz 2y agoWhy are you obtusely re-contextualizing everyone's responses?
- itake 2y agoI feel like these articles are just "tech company = bad" without recognizing that there are thousands of really smart people trying to create an equitable system that supports the needs of the drivers, passengers, and company. 1. Good wages for drivers means more drivers. 2. More drivers means better quality of service at lower cost for passengers. 3. Low cost and high quality service for passengers means more passengers. 4. More passengers means more rides and more money spent on platform. More drivers and more passengers means more money for company. The argument that Uber/DD whatever is not incentivized to have high wages for drivers is ridiculous.
- freejazz 2y agoHave you ever worked a job outside of tech?
- darby_nine 2y ago> Dynamic pricing allows workers more exposure to the value they generate Now we just need to get this to work with respect to investors generating real value and not just profit and capitalism might actually be cooking something
- financetechbro 2y agoYour perspective of dynamic pricing is true, _if_ the workers owned the platform(s). But they don’t. So your assumption that dynamic pricing allows workers more exposure to the value they generate falls flat on its face when there are uber drivers making less than they’ve ever made while uber itself is turning into a profitable company
- itake 2y agoi’m still confused what people are proposing is the solution. Uber pays a flat hourly rate no matter when the driver works? Drivers working after a football match earned the same pay as drivers working at 4am? I think this would mean that the drivers that work during peak hours Less than they do now and drivers working during low traffic hours would earn more?
- UncleMeat 2y agoBut corporations have access to way more power and data. You aren't going to get to see into the wage algorithm. Quitting because you are unhappy with the wage algorithm means time without pay and potentially having to move in order to get a new job. A corporation, meanwhile, suffers very little when one of its employees quits. I can't possibly imagine how this ends up producing increased average or median wages for workers.
- itake 2y agoN passengers need rides after a concert, but there Y drivers. How do you fairly compensate the drivers without dynamic compensation, while keeping the price low for the passengers?